RUNNING CAMPAIGNS
How to Use This Training
The Community Organising Handbook provides the detailed lessons, templates, and step-by-step exercises that show exactly how to organise, lead, and campaign effectively within your community.
This online training introduces those ideas in a practical way. Each topic summarises how the principles of organising can be applied in real situations and links directly to the tools found in the full and expanded Handbook.
Use this training to understand the process, learn the structure, and see how each part of organising fits together.
Then, use the Community Organising Handbook itself to plan your activities, complete the exercises, and apply the methods within your Association.
Together, they provide both the knowledge and the practice to turn conviction into organised action and build a confident, effective Association.
[DOWNLOAD THE HANDBOOK]
Your Pathway to Community Organising
This training is designed as a practical journey through the key areas of community organising. Each section introduces one of the core themes from the Community Organising Handbook and shows how it can be applied to real work within your Association.
Together, these topics form a pathway of capability building, guiding you from your first local meeting through to coordinated participation at the state and national level.
You can begin wherever your group is right now. Each section offers practical insight on its own, but working through them in sequence will give you a complete understanding of how effective organising develops from local leadership into a connected national movement.
1. Building Local Leadership
Learn how to intentionally build a local community of capable, committed people who can lead and act together with purpose.
You’ll learn how to move from informal networks to a coordinated group that works with structure, trust, and accountability. This is the starting point for every successful movement, a community that is organised, capable, and ready to act.
2. Understanding Power and Purpose
Understand how organised people and organised resources create the capacity to act and influence decisions.
This section defines power as collective capability, showing how shared purpose directs that power toward meaningful goals and social change consistent with our values.
3. Identifying Issues and Setting Goals
Learn how to recognise the challenges and opportunities that matter most to your community and turn them into clear, achievable goals.
You’ll develop the ability to focus collective effort on the issues that unite people, build credibility, and lead to real outcomes.
4. Planning Campaigns and Actions
Discover how to turn intention into effective public action that delivers measurable impact.
This section focuses on strategic coordination and purposeful activity, helping Associations plan campaigns that inspire participation and achieve visible results.
5. Communicating During a Campaign
Gain the confidence to express your message clearly and consistently, both within your community and to the wider public.
You’ll learn how strong communication builds unity, strengthens identity, and ensures that every campaign reflects shared values and purpose.
6. Meetings and Decision-Making
Develop the structures and practices that keep your Association fair, transparent, and action-focused.
This section highlights how effective meetings and good governance sustain engagement, encourage collaboration, and lead to confident collective decisions.
7. Growing Membership and Momentum
Learn how to maintain energy, attract new participants, and build enduring organisational strength.
You’ll understand how growth supports leadership development, stability, and the long-term capability needed to sustain campaigns and achieve continuing results.
8. Connecting with the Wider Movement
See how local effort contributes to a broader movement for cultural renewal and social influence.
This section shows how independent Associations work together through shared goals, coordinated advocacy, and a unified voice for our community.
Next Steps
Once your group is active and organised, use the Heritage Australians Constitution Toolkit to formalise your Association, elect a committee, and connect into the wider movement.